Chronicles of a Meadow
by Purplerose128
Summary: Jack's boring job at the public library is interrupted by a new face coming in to check out a book. Is that set of spring green eyes going to change this boy's outlook on his occupation? Fem!Hiccup and Jack.
1. This Job Just Got Better

**So... this is what happens when I get inspiration on about three hours of sleep. **

**I felt like writing something with Fem!Hiccup in it and this happened in less than an hour... that I could have spent on an ongoing fanfic that I still need to update...**

**Oh well, I figured I'd share this little thing with you guys. Might as well, right? I'm not sure if I'll continue this or not. You can tell me if I should in the reviews. But, if I do, it'll be when one of my ongoing projects is done or almost done. I don't want to juggle too many stories at once or one will surely be forgotten and will never be updated (which has already happened to one of mine this year...)**

**I hope you like this!**

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Jack had never been too keen on his job working in the library. He really only got up and went to work every day because he had to. It was a job that he was, admittedly, grateful to have. It sure helped out his mother when it came to paying the bills and Jack even got to keep some for his own leisure.

But that didn't change the fact that he kind of loathed every day that inched by with this boring occupation. Every day, the boy with white hair sauntered into the building at 3:35, right after school, and would stay in the house of books until 8:45. For the most part, he just manned the desk; taking care of book transactions. When it was quiet (and he actually felt like it) he would do his homework right there at the front desk. Why not, right? His boss couldn't yell at him for being swamped with schoolwork and tackling it when nothing was going on. But more often than not Jack would spend his free time goofing off on the computer set up right in front of him; mocking him while he was forced to exertion he didn't want to succumb to.

Though, there was one thing in particular that Jack liked about this part of his job. He wasn't much of a reader himself, but he picked up a few things after five months of shelving books. He learned every title and what genre it belonged to; sometimes he read the summary or the first few chapters when no one was looking. His personal favorites were (sadly) the comics and children's books. Probably because Jack had a child-like imagination that he wasn't outgrowing anytime soon.

And, from these excursions, yielded an ability that the boy was beginning to grow quite fond of. Just from the books that each customer took out, Jack could see something about them from the title that they chose. He could see battles waging for justice inside the history buffs, the enchanted realms of fantasy within its rather diverse fan base and the illusions swirling in every mystery fan. Jack was never that shallow, but this job started to draw him to a person's eyes first. It just… felt natural to him. Eyes tell more stories than can ever be told; the things they've seen of joy, wonder, heartbreak… if someone would only stop and notice these tales beyond those gates to the real person contained by the limits of a body. This part is what kept dragging Jack to work every day.

And there's one set of eyes that Jackson Overland would never forget. Her eyes were the green of a spring meadow in its prime, the blades of the grass fidgeting slightly as they stared back at him. And, enveloping that meadow was a blazing ember of bright hazel that just barely flickered in contrast to the green. She clutched her book of choice to her chest, gripping tightly with both hands.

For a moment, Jack couldn't speak. He wanted to explore those fields some more, to see what made those hazel ridges shine like they did. But his stare was cast away by the sound of her voice. "Uh… you ok?" It was deeper than Jack originally anticipated, for a girl that is and… careful. Almost like she didn't want to bother the idiot who was staring right at her (great call, Jack) out of some fear.

Jack shook his head "Oh, sorry, um…" he scratched the back of his neck "I zoned out for a minute."

A little smirk crept onto her face "Maybe you should do that off the clock." Sarcasm, great…

"I'll work on that." Jack took the book that she placed on the counter and stared at the cover in a bit of awe. She had _How to Train Your Dragon_ in her hands! This is one of the stories Jack actually took time to skim through! I guess Jack wasn't the only teenager in the world who loved the misadventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third after all. He smiled at her "Really?"

The girl reverted her gaze, allowing auburn bangs to obscure Jack's view of the springtime in her eyes. Strange how her hair was almost the same color has her freckles… "Yeah… I know it's stupid but-"

"Not at all." Jack interrupted, regaining full sight of the green "I didn't think anyone else my age read these books."

"You like them too?"

"I've read the whole set, up to date." Jack proclaimed "Or, at least, skimmed them… I know what happened in each book, anyway." He chuckled.

Another smiled was painted on her face. This one was warm, genuine. It only made those embers burn brighter. "Cool."

She handed him her library card. _Henrika Haddock_ it read. His girl was definitely new around here. For one, Jack would remember a name as foreign to him as Henrika. But there was no way he would forget those eyes.

"Henrika?" Jack asked.

"Don't ask." She quickly ordered "It's kind of a long story…"

"Okay then." Jack registered the book's take out and flipped to the back page, holding the book's history. He scribbled down a date on the next available line "Have it back here for return or renewal by this date, ok?" He scratched down something on a sticky note and stuck it to the card. He then closed the book and passed it and her card back to her.

"No problem." She took the book back in her hands and opened to the last page. The meadows grew larger at what she saw with the card. On the note was a roughly scrawled _Jack_ and a phone number.

"Why don't you call me sometime, Henrika?" He gave his trademark smirk; the one that got all the ladies.

Henrika looked from the note to him and closed the book again. "Call me Hiccup." She smiled, revealing acutely crooked teeth held by braces Jack hadn't noticed until then, and strode out the door. Jack watched until her form was out of sight. Something told him that working at the library wouldn't be all that boring anymore.


	2. One Week Later

**So this updated faster that I thought... I guess you guys can thank writer's block on another one of my stories for this. Well, that and the fact that I couldn't get this chapter out of my head until just about now... This is where POV will start to alternate between Jack and Hiccup, so have fun with that.**

**Thanks for all of the favs/follows/reviews that the first chapter got. I didn't expect anyone to actually like this so I'm pretty happy. I hope you guys can figure out who the newly introduced characters in this chapter are. I think they're both pretty obvious, but if you're confused I'll clarify in a PM or something. **

**And, I've said this on my other fics, but I'm also reachable on Tumblr. My URL is the same as on here, Purplerose128. Go check out my blog if you want to. **

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A week had passed since the white haired library assistant first met the Henrika- correction, Hiccup. Honestly, Jack didn't really see a need for her to have a nickname; he thought her name was really interesting and… pretty. It confused him from the moment she stated it and left before he could give a response to her request to call her as such. Even more, still, that her nickname of choice was the same as the main character of the book she'd checked out the previous Thursday. There must have been some kind of story behind her using the name of a fictional Viking hero instead of her own.

Jack was certain that he'd find out more about Hiccup the next time he'd see her. That brief exchange they had shared was nothing compared to the enthusiasm in her meadow irises and the crooked smile that winked onto her face in waves of joy. This girl had so much more to talk about and Jack was determined to hear even just a fragment more. She really seemed like a person that's fun to talk to, no matter the subject.

Unfortunately, he still hadn't seen or heard from her in that whole seven days of staring down at his cell phone and waiting for a new number to appear; just so that he could pick it up can talk to her some more. Jack tried to stay optimistic about this fact. Maybe she was just really busy and didn't have a chance to call yet. Maybe she was so into the book that she forgot entirely and would be reminded when she turned the last page and saw his phone number waiting for her.

But the passing days made it harder to stay that way. Jack started to think that she wasn't interested and didn't want to break it to him, so she was avoiding the library and, therefore, avoiding him. But he couldn't really blame her. It _is_ kind of weird for someone that you never met before to practically throw their phone number at you. He had come off the wrong way or something. That's why she didn't try to even call him.

Then, that seventh day, all of that worry disappeared. Hiccup walked through the doors about an hour after Jack had started his shift. And the first thing she did was come up to the counter and smile at him, braces showing obscurely. Jack thought it must have been those things that kept her from smiling any bigger.

"Hi, Jack." She greeted.

"Hey, Hiccup." Jack answered "I was starting to think you forgot about the place or something."

Hiccup giggled "No, I just couldn't get a ride. Stuff's been a little crazy at home this week." She adjusted the strap of her shoulder bag, making a few of the key chains cling together. "Oh." "She opened the bag and pulled out the book she borrowed from it "I finished it."

She handed it to Jack, who gingerly took it. "How'd you like it?"

"It was adorable. I really like Hiccup."

"That makes two of us." Jack chuckled. He took the book and put it on a nearby cart before registering that it was returned.

Jack was about to ask her about her nickname before another voice uttered it. "Hiccup!" A loud, almost squeaky whisper sounded.

Hiccup turned to the source of the voice and smiled a little wider "Hey, Felix."

Jack's eyes widened _Felix…?_

A boy that was bigger than Jack in both the height and weight categories waddled into view. He had messy blond hair and a backpack slung over his shoulders that looked like it would burst any second from being over-filled. "What's up?" He asked her.

"Just returning a book." Hiccup replied "Felix, this is my new friend Jack. Jack, this is Felix." Felix casually waved and Jack nodded. "Well, I came here to study so I'm going to do that." She stated and walked towards an empty table. She sat and sifted through her bag until she found the notebook that she was looking for. Jack could see from where he was that it had been drawn on all over.

Felix watched her for a moment before following suit and sitting across from her, taking out some of his own school books. If there was one way for Jack to describe how that kid walked, he would say that kid walked like a fish that just grew a set of legs. The way he carried himself seemed to be on a high-strung end, either like he had too much energy and no way to let it out or that he was just nervous about something.

Jack carried on with his work, taking care of transactions and restocking books, but every few minutes his eyes would gravitate towards Hiccup's table. He was looking for something, anything that would tell him exactly what their relationship was. Were they friends? Was he her tutor or something? Or were they dating?

That last one would explain why she didn't call and tried to keep their recent conversation brief. But… their behavior wasn't adding up to that theory. For the most part, they kept to themselves and only made any form of contact when one of them had a question about whatever it was that they were working on. Once or twice, they carried on a conversation but they didn't last very long and fell victim to their studies. Since Jack was having a problem pegging their relationship, he just left it at friends. But it bothered him that he wasn't sure of it.

Though, there was one thing that eased his mind some. On one of the runs to return the returned books to their shelves, Jack once again came upon _How to Train Your Dragon_ and flipped to the back cover. When he did, the only thing that he saw was the list of previous borrowers and check-out dates. His phone number was absent. That meant one of two things. Either she threw it away or she took it out and kept it somewhere for later.

Would it be bad to say that Jack was relieved when Felix was packing up his books? But, hey, this meant that maybe he could finally talk to Hiccup some more without any outside interference. If the guy had to go for that to happen, so be it.

Hiccup seemed neutral about her friend leaving, offering him a miniscule smile and a feeble wave goodbye before staring back down at her notes and nibbling at the end of her chewed pan cap.

A few minutes after her study partner left, Hiccup walked up to the desk with _How to be a Pirate_, the second book of the young Viking hero's books. Jack checked it out for her and she slipped it inside of her bag.

"Hooked on the series now, Hiccup?" Jack smirked.

"Yeah…" She bounced slightly on the balls of her feet "I think you have someone to talk about them with now."

"So…" Jack played with the frayed end of his blue hoodie "does that mean you're staying?" He made the observation that the table she was sitting at was now cleared; all of the stuff that littered it was probably all back in her bag.

"No, I can't." Hiccup sighed sadly "My brother's here to pick me up."

Jack froze with a blank stare "You have a brother?"

"Yeah." Hiccup shrugged "I shouldn't keep him waiting either. If he gets too bored, he might ditch me." She walked towards the door "I'll see you later, Jack."

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Hiccup exited the library and scanned the sides of the street until her eyes met a familiar red truck with black pin striping along the sides, not that she couldn't hear her brother's obnoxious music blasting from the old thing's stereo.

Hiccup approached the vehicle to see the too familiar sight of her driver with his feet kicked up on the aging dashboard and passionately playing the air guitar. His head banging to the beat ruffled his usually stationary, wiry brown hair. She rolled her eyes and opened the passenger door to climb in, which went unnoticed.

"Scott!" She shouted, closing the door behind her.

Upon hearing the disturbance, Scott jumped and banged his arm against his window. He grumbled something under his breath and started rubbing it. "Ugh, Henrika…" he muttered "I could have broken her window."

"I'm so sorry that _I_ almost gave your precious car another ding." She sarcastically apologized.

"Whatever." Scott scoffed as he put the truck in gear and started their trip home "What were you doing here, anyway? Dad only said to come get you."

"I did some studying with Felix and got another book." Hiccup stated.

"Just Felix? No Astrid this time?" Interest was suddenly in Scott's voice.

"She couldn't come." Hiccup responded "The girls had lacrosse practice today." She looked over at her brother "Why?"

"You know why." Scott claimed.

"Dude, I've told you before, she's not into you." Hiccup proclaimed.

"Well how do I know that until I try?"

"She told me so." Hiccup pretended to be interested in her overly bitten fingernails "She caught onto your little crush months ago."

"You're lying." Scott declared.

"It's the truth, Snot Face."

Scott groaned "Yeah, yeah… Hiccup." He smirked. There was a pause before it faded back into a little scowl "Ugh, we have to stop doing that. What if those names stick for life?"

"Oh, they will." Hiccup teased "Even if we live on opposite ends of the world, I'll call your house and when you don't pick up, I'll leave a message for 'Snot Face' to call me."

"Please don't." Scott chuckled "I don't want to explain that to people."

"You already have to your friends; why does it matter?" Hiccup smirked.

"Fine, you win." Scott sighed as they pulled into the driveway "But only because we're home."

"You might win a round if you didn't just break half of the traffic rules to get home." Hiccup informed as she climbed out of the car.

Scott exited as well "You interrupted something very important, I'll have you know."

"Oh yeah?" Hiccup crossed her arms "What was so 'important?'"

"Fireworm needs to be waxed." Scott gestured to his truck "I mean, look at her."

Hiccup glanced at the car and back at her brother "Scott, the thing is ten years old and it's starting to fall apart."

"Don't listen to her…" Scott whispered, behind a cupped hand, to the truck. "Don't you have something else to do?" He spat at Hiccup before trudging into the garage. Not even ten seconds after he disappeared inside, the same loud music started blasting from yet another stereo of his.

Hiccup rolled her eyes at her brother's usual stupidity. She then sauntered to the front door. "I'm home!" She called as she opened the door and stepped inside.

Not a second later, large footsteps emanated through the ceiling. Hiccup looked down the hallway and watched a monstrously sized Great Dane speed towards her, bounding down the stairs with a deep bark.

"Hey, Toothless!" She cooed as she knelt down and nuzzled the dog's head to her own. She stroked his coarse black fur, right behind the ear "Did you miss me? Huh, bud?" She giggled when a giant tongue slid across her cheeks.

"Henrika?" A woman's voice questioned. Upon hearing it, Hiccup stood and walked down the hallway with Toothless in tow. She turned the corner and found the owner of the voice entering through the back door. It was her mother, Val. "Oh, there you are. I wasn't sure if you were home yet."

"You mean you didn't hear Scott start blasting his music from the garage?" She chuckled.

Val joined in on the acute laughter. "So, how was the library today?" She asked as she and Hiccup wandered over to the kitchen table and sat down.

"It was alright." Hiccup shrugged "I met up with Felix and we studied together for a few hours." Val nodded "Then I checked out another book and I left with Scott."

"Nothing else new?" Val rested her chin in one of her hands. Hiccup moved her hands like two sides of a balancing scale. "Really?" Hiccup nodded, leading Val to reach into her pocket for something "Then who's Jack?" she implored as she took the sticky note with Jack's number and placed it on the table.

Hiccup's shoulders sank with a quiet huff. "I was hoping you wouldn't find that…" she ran a hand through her somewhat tangled hair "Jack works there- at the library. We started talking about the book I checked out last week and he wrote down his phone number."

"And how old is this 'Jack?'" her mother inched closer.

She shrugged "About my age." She guessed "Maybe a bit older? I didn't really ask."

"Have you talked at all since he gave this to you?" Val tapped the paper with her index finger.

"He was there again today and we talked for a bit." She made a small smile "But then Scott showed up and I left."

"Have you called him yet?" Now some real interest was coming into the older woman's voice.

"No." Hiccup dryly replied "I've been too busy."

Val passed her the note "Maybe you should soon. Even if you'd rather be friends, you should tell him that."

Hiccup took the note "I guess…"

Val stood and patted her daughter's shoulder "That's my girl. You're free to go now."

Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief and retreated to her room upstairs. She threw her bag off of her shoulder and it landed by her bed with a quite audible thunk. She proceeded towards her bed and landed on it face first. She moaned into the sheets before rolling over, Toothless hopping up and lying down next to his favorite human. He rested his giant head over her chest, which she almost immediately started scratching in has favorite spot.

"What do you think Toothless?" She mused as she stared at smooth white ceiling "Should I call him?"


	3. Response

**Chapter 3 done, yes! **

**I'm glad I got this chapter out this week because next week I won't be here to update anything, most likely. I'm going to Florida for a week starting Friday, so I'm doing my best to update as many of my ongoing stories as I can before then. I hope it compensates for my week of absence. **

**This chapter focuses on Jack's home life, kind of like how I did Hiccup's last chapter. I hope you like this one, guys.**

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After Hiccup left, the remainder of Jack's shift was pretty dull… and annoying. Not that he took _that_ much joy in spying on her and Felix, whoever he was to her, while they were here. The boy with bleached hair finally had a chance to sit down at the counter and do some homework, since business became slow, but then the boss just _had_ to come out and find something else for Jack to do.

Jack's boss, Harry, was a tall, lanky old man with a beard that seemed to get whiter every day. He walked around the library every now and then throughout the day, as if to make sure no one made off with any of the books. And every time he took this stroll, he would ask Jack for the list of checked out books, go over it and then slip back into his office around the corner. Jack quickly learned not to say anything to him unless he was spoken to, but he knows one word to describe his employer: scary.

"Overland," Harry's voice uttered in its usual hushed rasp "the science fiction section is a mess. Go clean it up." He ordered before retreating to his office again. Once he was out of his boss' ear shot, Jack huffed and bounced to his feet.

So, Jack spent until a half hour after his shift was supposed to be over re-organizing the sci-fi section of the shelving. It wouldn't have taken so long if he hadn't fallen off of the step ladder and nearly brought the shelf down with him, gravity taking the books that were already back inside of it. Other than that little spill (thank God that Harry didn't seem to hear it or he would have flipped) this activity was rather droll. But hey, how much fun could stacking books possibly be? Especially after doing it twice.

Long story short, Jack couldn't wait to hop in his car and get home. Even Harry had left by then, so Jack had to lock up before he went his way… again. _Why am I always the last to leave?_ He internally moaned when he finally locked every door in the building, got in his car (the only one left in the parking lot) and drove home.

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The very moment Jack walked through the front door, he was greeted by the warm yet worried eyes of his older sister. "Jack!" She engulfed him in a tight embrace, causing him to drop his backpack.

"Anna…" Jack choked "I can't breathe." She let go and Jack gasped for air "What was that about?" he chuckled as he tore off his hoodie, revealing a plain blue t-shirt.

"You're home late again." She complained "You know how mom is about curfew." She moved a few rainbow colored locks of hair behind her ear "You're lucky you beat her home."

Jack sighed "I know, but Harry held me up for something again. I swear my life would be easier if she would just bump curfew up a half an hour."

"You and I both know the likelihood of that happening." She giggled. Walking into the kitchen, she called "There's still some leftovers from dinner, if you want them. I bet you're starved."

"Only a little." Jack joked. He followed his sister through the doorway and found a plate already made up for him, waiting for him to help himself to it on the table. "You're the best, Anna."

She smiled "I know. Now eat something." She walked to the doorway and turned back to her brother "And remember to brush your teeth when you're done." Then, she strode upstairs.

Jack chuckled at the last part, but happily complied and sat down to eat his long awaited meal. _Typical Anna,_ Jack mused_._ He heartily gulped down every morsel of the chicken and mashed potatoes provided to him; he clearly didn't realize how hungry he was until the first bite entered his mouth. After pretty much licking the plate clean, Jack trudged up the flight of stairs and turned the corner into his bedroom. He plopped into his desk chair and finally set to work on his homework, without distractions.

Without distractions, that is, until he heard a familiar voice call out "I'm home!"

_Yes you are, mom. _Jack smiled _Good thing you're not the only one who was late tonight._

It wasn't long before the unofficial head of the Overland house poked into the doorway of her son's room and greeted him. Jack turned to face her, smile on his face. "How was work today?" She casually asked. Jack's head fell back and he let out a moan "Come on, it can't be that bad." She tried to hold back a laugh.

"I'm just tired." He clasped the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"I take it you couldn't do your assignments at work today, huh?"

"You have no idea." Jack groaned.

His mother smiled "I'll leave you to that, then. Don't stay up too late, Jack."

"No promises." He replied before she disappeared behind the wall.

Jack continued his work for about an hour after that and decided to take a quick break. As usual, the house was still very much alive at so close to eleven o'clock at night. With his parents' wonky work hours, especially when his dad wasn't away on business, the family was often awake past midnight; it was the only time they could find to be together and they took it in strive. Anna had now made a habit of staying up past then nightly, seeing as she had mountains of homework herself from dental school. So, he decided to try to sneak into her bedroom and bug her for a little while. This act didn't go unnoticed though, as her pet bird started to sound an alert to her master the second Jack's foot came into her sight.

Anna turned from her pile of books and hushed the brightly colored parakeet before acknowledging him "What do you want, Jack?" She interrogated "I'm really busy right now."

Jack smirked "What? I can't take a break from my homework to watch my big sister do her homework?"

Anna rolled her eyes "Whatever." She scratched down another answer on her paper "You and your friends have any plans this weekend?"

"Nah." Jack sighed "Jamie has to watch his sister, the girls are having one of their days and Claude and Caleb are going to visit family."

"Great," Anna muttered "So that means you'll be bothering me all weekend, right?"

"You just read my mind." Jack exclaimed. He mulled over the statement "Wait, why is that a problem? You usually don't care."

"I have a project to work on and I'd really appreciate it if I can concentrate on that." Anna explained "So, if you must entertain yourself by bugging me, please do it sparingly."

"I'll do my best." The two sat in a silence for a few minutes before Jack's pocket light up with the glow of this cell phone. He took it out and the screen showed an unknown number. "I have to take this." He stated as he speed walked back to his own room and stared at the number. He took a breath and answered "Hello?"

"Jack…?" His eyes widened at the jittery tone "It's, uh… It's Hiccup…"

"Hey," Jack tried to mask his excitement "what's up? I didn't expect you to call this late."

"I'm not keeping you up, am I?"

"No, I'm always up at this hour." Jack replied.

"Good." Hiccup's voice began to relax "So am I."

"Well, alright." The tension on Jack faded too "Now answer my first question."

Hiccup giggled "I just finished up my homework and I thought I'd finally put your number to use. Sorry it took me awhile; life's kind of hectic over here."

"It's fine. At least now I know I didn't creep you out or anything."

"How do you know that?" Hiccup intrigued.

"Why would you call someone who you thought was a total creep?" Jack playfully asked.

"To tell him what a creep he is, obviously." Hiccup countered.

Jack chuckled "You got me there." He paused "Wait, then he would just have your number and he'd just harass you even more."

The two carried on with their very witty and sarcastic conversation for close to an hour before Hiccup's ever more frequent yawns finally called her to sleep. They hung up after Hiccup promised that they would talk again, either over the phone or at the library. Jack's smile stayed plastered on his face as he stared down at his cell phone. He found that he really liked talking to Hiccup. She always had something to say and she was so funny and smart and she always had a comeback to whatever joke that Jack tossed at her.

There was the fire in those meadow green eyes; there was the spark that he saw in them. Once she was comfortable, the shy barrier she had put up collapsed with every word she spoke, every laugh that left her lips, every smile that he knew that he made her crack during that conversation. If only he could have been sitting across from her while they talked, so that he could see that fire ignite the meadows and give them so much more life than even Hiccup knew that they had. Those eyes revealed so much more about her than she knew. Those little blazes in her irises are what caught Jack's attention and he planned on keeping it on her for as long as he could.

"So, who were you talking to?"

Anna's voice made Jack jump in his seat "No one you need to know about right now."

"Was it a girl?" She pressed forward as she sat on the foot of Jack's bed "Sure sounded like one to me." Jack gave her a confused look "I'm pretty sure you can thank your maxed out volume for me hearing her." She crossed her arms and smirked "What's her name?"

Jack leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Henrika."

Anna nodded "Where'd you meet her?"

"At the library." Jack answered "She took out a book and we started talking about it and I gave her my number."

Anna thought about her next move. "Is she pretty?" A very mundane question, yes, but she had to hear his answer.

Jack ran a hand through his bleached white hair. "Very." Anna leaned forward, searching for details. Jack sighed again. "She's short- well, shorter than me. She looks like she's covered in freckles… they look like they're as brown as her hair… and she has really green eyes, like grass."

Anna rested her chin in her palm. "Hmm…" She looked over his expression while he talked and noticed a light daze in his eyes. Her smirk softened to a smile. "You like her, don't you?"

"Yeah, I like talking to her." Jack began to twiddle his thumbs "But we haven't really known each other that long yet, so…" he trailed off.

"You want to get to know her first." Anna finished.

Jack nodded. "Now… can we keep this between us? I don't want mom or dad freaking out because of this. And don't tell Emma-"

"Don't tell me what?" Anna and Jack turned to the doorway to see their younger sister standing there with her arms crossed.

"Nothing!" Jack quickly spat out.

"I know it's not nothing." Emma stated "What's going on?" She glanced at Anna for some kind of confirmation.

The eldest Overland started twirling a deep brown lock of hair "Jack likes a girl and he wants to keep it secret from mom and dad until he learns more about her." Emma smiled.

Jack groaned into his hands. "Why'd you tell her?"

"Stop being a baby;" Anna swatted at him "she was going to find out anyway." She turned back to her younger sister "You wouldn't mind keeping that secret, would you?"

The younger girl excitedly nodded, her smile growing. "It's about time, Jack." She cheered "I was starting to think I'd be the first one to date around here."

"I've gone on date before, you know!" Anna protested.

"Yeah, but there was never a second date and we never got to meet either of them." Emma affirmed.

"Well, who says Jack's going to get a second date?" Anna counteracted.

"Whose side are you on here?" Jack exclaimed.

"Relax, Jack," Anna put a reassuring hand on his shoulder "If you ever need help with this, we're here for you." Jack smiled at her and she returned the gesture.

"Yeah." Emma interjected "I want to meet her. I mean, she must have something if Jack I'll-Never-Find-Love Overland has interest in her." Jack stuck out his tongue at her and she answered with showing him her own.

"So mature, you two…" Anna rolled her eyes.


	4. Growing Suspicions

**I'm finally back! Sorry about the wait for this update. I wound up having to rewrite the whole thing because the original chapter made everything too intense too fast. I saved it for later, though. So at least I didn't waste my time, right?**

**Also, I apologize that nothing major really happens in this chapter. It's mostly just conversation from both Jack and Hiccup's side of things and their friends getting in their faces about it... But I hope you still like it. More character introductions and stuff, so... yeah...**

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait." Jamie had to clarify what he'd just heard "You're saying that you actually have your eyes on a girl?" The rest of the group at the lunch table turned to Jack, waiting for an answer.

"Why does no one believe this?" Jack protested "First my sisters, now you guys?" He pouted "I'm starting to feel like I should have kept this to myself."

"Don't be like that, Jack." Pippa chimed "It's just a little weird, you know?"

"You've just never been into a girl before." Cupcake added.

"Yeah." Claude continued "Every time Caleb and I… or any of us," He gestured to everyone accordingly "tried to get you a date, you turned them down." Caleb nodded in agreement, as his mouth was busy taking a giant bite out of his sandwich.

Jack shrugged "Hiccup's different. I don't know." He glanced at all of his friends and started playing with the mystery meat on his plate with a fork.

"What'd Anna and Emma think when you told them?" Pippa asked.

Jack chuckled "Emma was glad she wouldn't be the first one of us to date someone. Ann was happy for me; I mean, she was pretty interested in what Hiccup looked like and everything."

"Okay, but why Hiccup?" Jamie quizzed "That _can't_ be her real name."

"She told me to call her that." Jack clarified.

"Why?" Jamie inquired.

Jack shrugged again "I haven't had a chance to ask why, but that's what she wants me to call her so I will."

"Weird name." Cupcake commented.

"You shouldn't exactly be talking." Claude remarked. Cupcake shot him a glare, to which he put his hands up for mercy.

Monty, who had been in the world of the book in his hands until then, questioned "How long have you been talking to her?"

"A few weeks, give or take." Jack moved his hands as if you say _so-so_ "She called me last week and she comes to the library every day now."

"The one you work at?" The boy with glasses continued.

Jack nodded in response "That's where I met her." Monty took the answer and returned to his book.

"Well, I'm glad for you, Jack." Jamie patted his friend on the back.

"Yeah." Cupcake included "Hope it works out."

"We're not dating… yet." Jack stated.

"Cocky, aren't we?" Pippa intrigued.

Jack reclined in his seat "A little." The girls at the table looked at each other and rolled their eyes "What?"

"Nothing." Cupcake chuckled.

Before Jack could question his female friends further, the bell rang to signal the end of the lunch wave and the group had to disperse to their respective classes. Jack tagged along with Monty, as they had the same math class this period, and everyone else soon fell out of sight in the sea of teens bustling through the halls.

Monty dog-eared the page in his book as they walked. "So, you really like her, huh?" he asked, in an effort to regain conversation.

"Yeah." Jack answered "She's really fun to talk to; you'd like her. Another book person."

"I figured you'd get into them once you started shifts at the library." The blond boy commented "Guess I was wrong."

"Eh, I don't hate them." Jack claimed "I just don't have the attention span for it."

Monty laughed "I know that." He gave his friend a mischievous look "So, when can we meet her?"

"Dude, you didn't hear me?" The boy with bleached hair questioned "We're just friends now, nothing serious."

"I still want to see her." Monty stated "I mean, she _must_ be interesting to draw you in."

"If you must." Jack sighed in defeat "Just don't follow me while I'm working; Harry'll flip if he thinks I'm making someone else do my work for me or something."

"Relax," Monty assured "I'll entertain myself until she gets there." The pair entered their classroom "So, see you after school?"

"I can't talk you out of doing this, so why not?" Jack replied.

* * *

It seemed to be another slow day at the library for the bored assistant at the desk. Jack had only been at work for about a half hour and he already wanted his shift to be over. It wasn't uncommon for him to feel like this about his job, but he did grow to like it a bit more when Hiccup came into the picture. After all, he at least made a new friend because of the stupid job. And he got to see her almost every day. It became one of the few perks or being there every week day that Jack had grown very fond of.

But it wasn't until a little later that his usual distraction would come through the door, so Jack decided to get a head start on his homework. Maybe, just maybe, he could get to sleep at a decent hour tonight if he could just get some of his work done while nothing was going on.

This managed to kill a few minutes before someone called his name "Jack." Said boy looked up from his textbook to see a familiar mop of blond hair and set of bright red glasses smiling at him.

"Hey, Monty." Jack smiled.

"I brought some books to return." He gestured to the small stack under his arm.

Jack tapped the top of the desk "Give 'em to me." He ordered. Monty placed the stack on the desk and Jack checked them back into the library one by one. He got to the bottom book and smirked "Isn't this the one you were reading at lunch today?" He asked.

"Yeah…" Monty sighed "I had nothing to do in study hall today."

"What about homework?" Jack inquired, putting the last book with the rest of the stack.

"I'll do it later." His friend shrugged it off "There's not that much tonight."

"I'm trying to get a head start." Jack informed "I need to get some sleep after last night."

"What happened, anyway?" Monty leaned on the desk.

Jack scratched the back of his neck "I had to help Anna with something and I don't really want to talk about it."

"Part of dental school?" The blond guessed. Jack only nodded "Sorry, man." His friend shrugged "So, when's this 'Hiccup' getting here?"

"She'll be here soon." Jack peered at the clock "In about fifteen minutes, she'll be here. Go pretend to be busy until then." Monty nodded and wandered over to the shelves of books.

* * *

Like clockwork, Hiccup came through the library doors at 4:25. She walked up to the desk and greeted him as usual. There was only one thing different about her; she had her hair in a ponytail, and a very messy one from the looks of it. It was different seeing her without her auburn hair hiding some of her face, a good different.

Another new thing was that she wasn't alone either; two new faces accompanied her to his desk. Thankfully, they were both female. They both sported the same bright blue eyes and blonde hair and were slightly taller than Hiccup. One had her hair tied in a braid while the other had her messy locks falling freely about her. It looked like she either just got out of an open convertible or she just didn't brush her hair that day.

Hiccup must have noticed that Jack was looking her company over and broke the silence "Jack, these are my friends: Astrid and Cam." She gestured to the one with and without the braid respectfully "Guys, this is Jack." They exchanged waves and smiles.

"So, this is Jack?" Astrid stepped closer "He's taller than I imagined."

Jack turned to Hiccup with a smirk "So, you talk about me, huh?"

Hiccup tugged a stray strand of hair behind her ear "Maybe a little…"

Cam rolled her eyes behind them and cleared her throat. Hiccup and Astrid turned to her "I thought I was going to get help with history today?"

"Right, right…" Hiccup stuttered. She turned back to Jack "I'll talk to you later, 'kay?" Jack nodded and the girls made their way to an empty table nearby. They started unpacking their books when Monty walked back to the desk.

"So, which one's her?" He playfully nudged Jack's side.

"What convinced you one of them was her?" Jack inquired.

"I saw your smile while you were talking to them." The blond boy stated "It's the same look you had when you talked about her at school today."

Jack rolled his eyes "The one wearing green, with the brown hair." He gestured to Hiccup, Cam and Astrid's table.

"Hmm." Monty slid his glasses back up the bridge of his nose "She's pretty. Then who's that with her?"

"Her friends." Jack answered "I was beginning to wonder if she had any female friends…"

"How come?"

"There's this guy that comes in with her every now and then…" The white-haired youth explained.

"Do you know if they're together?" The other wondered.

"I have no idea." Jack huffed "They just come here sometimes and study until they have to leave."

"You know they could just be friends, right?" Monty asked "Like you are with Pippa and Cupcake."

Jack shrugged "I guess… but it's still bugging me, you know…" he trailed off as his attention was diverted from the conversation to Hiccup reaching behind her head and pulling out the hair band that was keeping her ponytail in place. She shook her hair out a bit before returning to her studying. Jack would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the sight at all; he practically watched it in slow motion.

"Overland." Harry's raspy voice slipped into Jack's ears, pulling him out of his little trance. He turned to see the old man a few feet behind them "Stop gawking at girls and get to work."

* * *

Astrid gazed up from her homework to see Hiccup shaking out her messy ponytail. She then slipped the band onto her wrist before starting back on her own work, occasionally peering over at Cam, in case she needed assistance.

"Sorry about your hair, sis." The blonde with the braid broke the silence "I should have had something for you."

Her sister played with her pencil "Eh, it usually looks this way anyway." She shrugged "No big deal."

"I highly doubt your hair always looks like you just rode in Scott's car with all the windows down." Hiccup remarked.

"It's always a mess." Cam answered "But I have better things to do than play with my hair, like perfecting my parry."

"Right, for the tournament coming up." Astrid remembered "Don't worry, Cam, you'll get the team a spot at regionals, no problem."

"Star of the fencing team, after all." Cam bragged, as usual.

"That you are." Hiccup complimented. She gazed at her friend's paper "But you suck at history."

"That's why I'm here." The messy blonde stated "Fix me so I can do well on the next test; I flunked the one last week."

"And mom won't let her play for the team if her grades keep slipping." Astrid pointed out.

"Don't remind me…" Cam rested her head in her hands.

"You know you could have helped her at home, Astrid." Hiccup claimed.

"She's not as good at history as you are." Cam proclaimed.

"Alright, alright," the brunette repeated "maybe we should get some work done? You know, before Scott gets here?"

"Right." Astrid giggled.

Quiet came over the trio of girls, except for Hiccup and Cam's occasional exchanges about the history homework. Astrid scratched down answers to her algebra equations as quickly as usual. Bit as she closed her book to move onto the next assignment, she felt a set of eyes aimed her way. She turned and found Jack quickly looking everywhere but the table.

Astrid smirked at the sight and broke the long silence again. "So, Hiccup," said girl looked up from her notebook "what do you think of Jack?" she whispered.

Cam shrugged "He's okay… for a boy, anyway."

Astrid groaned "Is your name Hiccup?"

"He's a nice guy, why?" Hiccup asked.

"You like him, then?" Astrid insinuated.

The brunette answered "Sure." After it left her lips, she finally understood what she'd just told the braided twin "I-I mean… not like that, uh… w-we're friends. Like… like Felix and I are."

"Uh-huh…" Astrid pondered. She glanced at her sister.

Cam sensed the look and finally joined the conversation "I'm staying out of this, if I can."

Astrid rolled her eyes "Whatever, Cam." She switched her attention back to Hiccup "So, that's it? Friends?"

"Yeah." She answered a little too quickly for Astrid's liking "Can we get back to our work now?"

Astrid took the hint and nodded, each girl turning back to their assignments. But, every so often, she'd feel the stare of bright blue eyes aimed at their table. And every time she looked back, he would be frantically looking for something else to admire. Hiccup may have been oblivious to it, as she usually was with these situations, Astrid saw something hidden below the surface that just might have to come out.

* * *

**So, if anyone needs clarification on this, Cam is Camicazi from the HTTYD books. I decided to make her and Astrid twin sisters because Camicazi was used as Astrid's base during character design for the movie. So, they have the same genetic features (blonde hair, blue eyes) and some of the same personality traits. I never saw anyone do that with them before, so I wanted to give it a shot **

**... Sorry that this fic has become the place where I put all of the relationships I haven't seen too much of in this fandom... they all seem to fit together well though, so I'm cool with it. What about you guys?**


	5. Bonding by Bowling

**Hi, all! Sorry about this update being kinda later than usual... school's starting up again on Tuesday and I had to go to orientation this week and I only have two words: senior year. That is all I will use to describe the stress of that situation and beyond this year. So, sorry if updates are like this for awhile; I have to settle into my new schedule and everything before I get back to my usual schedule of updating once every 7-10 days. **

**This chapter's longer than normal; hopefully this compensates for the longer wait. **

* * *

The next day, Hiccup skipped going to the library in favor of watching Astrid and Scott at lacrosse practice. She hadn't seen a practice in a few weeks now and she kind of owed Scott an easier way home after driving her from her new hangout every day of the week. The auburn-haired girl didn't mind in the slightest; she may not have played a sport herself, but she didn't mind having something to entertain other than her homework or the latest book from the _How to Train Your Dragon _series she'd been checking out one by one lately.

The only problem came from watching different sides of the field that the school used for practice. The boys' team played on one side and the girls' team on the other. Her basic system would be to watch her brother until he started being too much of a braggart for his own good. Then, she'd switch her gaze to Astrid practicing with the other girls on the team. Let's just say Astrid handled scoring better than Scott did… his head was a little too big for him, if you asked Hiccup.

She sat alone on the bleachers until the girls' coach called for a break and Astrid jogged over to her. Hiccup had become her personal refreshment stand whenever she happened to be at the practices.

"Water, Astrid?" Hiccup called.

"Sure." The blonde replied. She stopped at the base of the bleachers, panting and resting her hands on her knees.

Hiccup complied by taking a water bottle from her backpack and tossing it to her friend, who caught it practically without looking. "So, are we still going bowling this weekend?"

Her friend chuckled "Don't we go every weekend?"

Hiccup shrugged "Just making sure you can Cam aren't busy or anything."

"We're free. Tell Felix if he needs to know too." Hiccup nodded again. Astrid stayed silent for a minute, catching her breath "You know, I was thinking… You should invite Jack." She suggested before taking a sip out of her water bottle.

"Why?"

Astrid ceased drinking and sighed with relief "You said you wanted to get better acquainted with him, didn't you?" Hiccup shrugged and nodded at the question "What better way to do that than have him come and hang out with us?"

"I guess…" The brunette girl sighed "I'll invite him when I go to the library tomorrow." She paused "Do you think he'll even want to come?"

"Of course. Why, you don't think so?" The blonde crossed her arms.

"Not really."

* * *

"Sure, why not?" Jack replied without a second thought, trying his best to sound like he didn't care either way.

Hiccup blinked "Really…?"

"Yeah." The boy with white hair smiled "I'd love to hang out with you guys… in a place where we can talk without getting in trouble." He muttered as he saw a few other people in the library shooting a look that was begging them to shut up.

Hiccup giggled and lowered her voice "That would be nice. We all meet up at the bowling alley down the road, The Bog Bowler." Jack nodded, recalling where the place was "Tomorrow night at seven, okay?" He nodded again "Great." The corners of her mouth created a smile before she shifted the weight in her backpack and walked over to her usual table, the center table in the row closest to the bookshelves.

Jack felt a smile creep its way onto his features too as she went about her own business. It probably felt greater than it should that she actually wanted to hang out with him outside of the dungeon he called a workplace and she began to make part of her schedule.

Hanging out with her could sounded great in Jack's head. But the only question that stuck out to him. What did this even mean? Did inviting him mean that she just wanted to get to know him or… something else?

* * *

After getting home from work (on time, for once), Jack snagged some leftovers from the fridge to eat before climbing the stairs and making his way into Anna's room. When he walked in, she had her nose buried in one of her tooth books, tacky-looking purple glasses hanging low on her nose and standing out against her dark complexion. Emma was sitting at the foot of the bed, reading her own book quite intently. It seemed some of the elder's nerdiness started to rub off on the younger. Only when their brother cleared his throat did either notice him.

"Jack," Anna merely glanced up from her page "what's going on?"

"I thought I should tell you that I may have made some progress with Henrika." He claimed.

Simultaneously, both girls saved their place in their books and closed them, Jack gaining their full attention instantaneously.

"What happened?" Emma enthusiastically asked, resting her chin in her propped up hands.

"Tell us!" Anna demanded.

"Okay, okay, calm down." Jack sat on the small empty space on Anna's bed "Looks like I'm spending time with her tomorrow night."

"So, you're taking her on a date?" Anna asked excitedly.

"No, I'm not." Jack rubbed the back of his neck "It's too soon for that, anyway. She goes bowling with her friends a lot, I guess, and she asked me if I wanted to tag along with them."

"At least it's a good sign." His older sister pointed out.

"How is this a good thing?"

"It means she doesn't totally hate you." Emma giggled.

Jack deadpanned "I could have figured that out on my own."

"Have you told your friends yet?" Anna questioned.

Her brother turned back to her "No, why do you-?"

"Tell them what?" Jack was interrupted by their mother, Mary, who was now standing in the doorway pairing her work clothes with a confused expression.

"Oh, mom, uh…" He stammered.

"What's going on?" She entered the room "You three don't just get excited for no reason."

The siblings glanced from one to another with uncertainty until Emma shouted out "Jack's going on a date tomorrow!" Said boy tossed the girl a death glare.

"What? You are?" Mary sounded almost too excited… great… "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's not really a date." Jack calmly clarified "This girl I met at work and have been talking to for a few weeks now invited me to hang out with her and her friends tomorrow night. They're going to that bowling alley near the library."

"Sounds like fun." His mother tucked a loose strand of brown hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it." The white-haired boy commented.

Mary stood silent for a moment, glancing between her children "Well, do you like her?" She suddenly asked.

Jack shrugged, a little bit of heat forming under the hoodie he'd yet to throw off "A little… maybe…"

"He's been coming to us for advice." Anna explained "And I told him to keep me updated on it because the last thing he needs is to screw it up."

Mary chuckled "At least you're helping him." She returned her gaze to her son "So, tell me about her."

Jack groaned at the command. He'd just gone through this awhile ago, didn't he? But it was pointless to wiggle out of this. So he started to, yet again, describe Hiccup to her and get her up to date on what's happening between them… which wasn't much, but still.

All Jack knew was that every single female in the whole house was now more excited about this development than he was. Sure, he was happy he was interested in her. Hiccup's a really cool person, from what he's seen of her. But he was more confused than anything. He'd never had a crush, if you could even call this one, before. He'd never dated because he never saw a point until now.

All of a sudden he wanted things that he had no idea how to handle properly and keep it from blowing up in his face. And, in a way, that scared him. He really liked Hiccup. He didn't want to make her hate him because he made a mistake or anything. Because Anna was right. He would probably screw it up without even realizing it, being so… Jack. He needed all the help he could get with this.

* * *

The next day, Jack arrived at The Bog Bowler a little later than he'd originally hoped. Turns out he didn't exactly remember where this place was after all… oops. He'd driven past it before but never stopped to see the inside. The bowling alley was a quaint place, to sum it up basically. It was a large brick building with a row of windows on both sides of a duo of wooden doors. The place was attached to a small bar called "Bertha's." Apparently, the two places had the same owners.

He stepped inside and found the place pretty standard for a bowling alley. Hardwood floors, lanes taking half of the building's space and the whole back wall. Part of the floor was elevated, separating an eating area from the bowling lanes. It was pretty well occupied, with people playing at quite a few lanes or eating the food that the place served.

Jack strode up to the counter to get some bowling shoes and stopped in front of the employee manning it, a stout man with a chestnut brown beard. He gave Jack a sweet smile and welcomed him."

"I've never seen you here before." The man noticed "First time bowling?"

"Nah." Jack answered "Just first time bowling here."

Jack told the man his shoe size and he scurried over to the shelves to find him the right fit. He brought a pair that had definitely seen better days to the counter.

"So, uh, how much?" Jack pulled out his wallet.

"Six fifty." The employee replied.

"He's with us, Mulch!" Jack turned to see Astrid standing at a table with Cam, Felix and Hiccup. He turned back to the employee, who was now smiling a little wider at him.

"Then they're on the house." Mulch stated to Jack, who looked from the table to the clerk in confusion. "Go on, go be with your friends."

"Uh… alright…" Jack took his shoes and met the others at one of the tables on the elevated platform, taking an empty seat next to Hiccup. "Hey." The rest of the group greeted him "So, uh… how come I don't have to pay for these?" He gestured to the shoes.

"Our parents own the place." Cam nonchalantly answered, kicking her feet up on the last empty seat "So, once a week, we can bring a few friends in for free sets and food. Shoes too."

"Yeah." Felix added "It's become our weekly tradition."

Jack started to switch out his shoes "Alright, just making sure I won't get arrested for not paying for bowling shoes." He chuckled.

"You sure that's all you'd be arrested for there?" Cam remarked.

Jack's chuckle grew to a laugh "I'm sure." He tied the laces of his shoes and sat back up to meet everyone else's gaze "So, what are we doing up here instead of down there?" He tiled his head to the lanes.

"Mom's making our dinner." Astrid replied "Whenever we show up, she likes to get us our order herself."

"Sometimes she gives us something she's trying out too. Nothing gets on the menu without our approval." Hiccup brought up "We're kind of her taste test guinea pigs."

"So I might get a free sample tonight?" Jack leaned against the table top on his elbows.

"You get free food, anyway." Cam proclaimed "Just some of it might be something we've never seen before and could either be really disgusting or a gift from the cooking gods."

Jack started sniggering again "I like you, uh…" Suddenly, he forgot which twin was which.

"Cam." The messier blonde reminded "Astrid always has her hair braided or something."

"At least I take care of my hair…" Astrid muttered.

"I do too!" Cam declared.

Astrid scanned her figure "Did you brush it this morning?"

Her twin turned away from her "No…"

"My point exactly." Astrid remarked.

At pretty much the perfect time, a large tray of pizza, a stack of paper plates and a huge basket of fries were placed in the center of the table.

A woman that definitely had some meat on her bones was the server. Jack also noted that her light brown hair was pulled back in a bun, that her clothes were covered by a grease-stained apron and that she had uh… a quite large breast to her. "There you go, kids." She made her way to Hiccup and set down a small basket of fried chicken strips in front of her "I'm trying a new batter, Henrika. Try it out."

To this, Hiccup nodded "Thank you."

"No problem, anything for you, dear." Bertha finally noticed Jack beside Hiccup "Who's this? A new friend?"

"Uh, yeah." Hiccup started "This is Jack." He gave the woman a wave and a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Jack." She greeted "I'm Bertha; I own the place. I'm sure the girls and Felix filled you in on what you need to know." Jack nodded "Good." She started to walk away from the table, untying her apron as she went "Just holler if you need anything else, kids!"

"We will!" Astrid called back.

The braided twin turned back to see everyone else taking slices of the pizza and putting them on the paper plates they were supplied with. Well, everyone but Hiccup, who snagged some of the fries and started to nibble on the chicken strips.

"Don't like pizza?" Jack asked.

"I do." Hiccup admitted "But I can't eat it with my braces…"

"You could always scrape the cheese off, Hiccup." Felix pointed out "Then it won't be a problem, right?"

Hiccup shook her head "It's not the same that way."

"Fair enough." Cam added.

* * *

Hiccup watched four sets of hands sweep up over half of the pizza like it was their last meal. Jack and Astrid each took three slices, Cam claimed two and Felix settled for one and a big helping of the fries.

They began eating in silence until Cam brought up "So, I think I owe you Hiccup. I passed the quiz in history today."

Hiccup smiled "You don't owe me anything, really."

"I just want to thank you for pulling me out of the gutter with my mom. I'm in the tournament now, set in stone."

"That's great!" Felix congratulated "I'll definitely come see you."

"I kind of have to be there, so count me in." Astrid commented "Hiccup?"

"If I can get a ride." She shrugged "But it's still a few months away; I don't know what everyone else is doing then."

"One of us can take you." Felix offered.

"You sure?" The only brunette at the table asked.

"Yeah. How many times have you gotten rides from any of us before?" The blond boy continued "It's no problem." He smiled.

After a little more conversation, Hiccup noticed that Jack had remained quiet since they got their food. He was eating his third slice of pizza crust first when she looked over at him.

She opened her mouth to speak before Cam blurted out "You eat pizza that way too?"

Jack's eyes widened at the remark "Yeah… you don't think it's weird, do you?"

"Dude, I do it too!" She exclaimed. Jack cracked a smile at that.

After that little ice-breaker, Jack seemed to come around more and more to the group. They all shared stories and laughed at jokes that someone made as the conversation went on. Over that talk, Hiccup learned that Jack was a junior at his school and that he had at least one sister… sometimes when he brought her up, she seemed older than him and other times younger. He must have had more than one for that to happen…

Overall, Hiccup thought that dinner was pretty tame… until Jack and Cam got into a contest to see who could stuff more French fries in their mouth. Cam wound up winning by one fry, much to Jack's disappointment, and Hiccup and the others laughed at how stupid they looked with the shreds of fried potato sticking out of their mouths.

When practically every morsel of food had been consumed, all the teens were contently chatting when Bertha came back to check on them and bring the tray back into the kitchen. She handed Astrid three scorecards and told them to take any lane they wanted. That was when they decided to start their first set on an open bowling lane and set up their scorecard, Felix dubbing himself the score-keeper as usual because the Hofferson twins (one more so than the other) had a bad habit of cheating when they kept score.

Being the always-important score-keeper, Felix went up first and snagged a spare with no problem. Then, Astrid wound up with a seven-ten split and found herself one pin short of a spare. With a slip of her foot, Hiccup managed to earn eight points and Cam quickly followed up with a strike, which she proceeded to cheer about and dared Jack to "beat that." Needless to say that their little rivalry carried on for quite a bit of the game, the two of them constantly out-scoring the other with their best throws.

Everyone else stayed out of the little competition until Hiccup finally got her footing on the lane and scored all spares and strikes from then until the mid-way point of the game. Finally, she had her usual game back. Cam started instigating that she could beat both Jack and her without thinking about it and Hiccup accepted the challenge. The game ended with Cam's score being the highest, closely followed by Hiccup and Jack earning a very close third place.

Something about this development surprised Hiccup because, while Cam did her overly common victory dance with the scorecard, Jack just smiled and congratulated her on winning. It might have been strange to think, but Hiccup pegged Jack as a bit of a sore loser for some reason. It was refreshing to see that her assumption was wrong entirely.

It only told her that Jack might be a lot of fun to have around every weekend. He was easy to talk to, an open book and she had to admit that he had a pretty good form while bowling… and he did look good from certain angles. And he seemed to get along with everyone else pretty well and she would be lying if she said that she didn't enjoy his company. She did catch him giving Felix a few weird looks, though… why she didn't know. Maybe he was confused by the fact that the blond hung out with a trio of girls every weekend. She just shrugged it off, though. It wasn't that important, right?

The second set ended with Cam and Felix tying for first place, Astrid in second and Hiccup in third. Jack having lost the competitive stress that came from the battle with Cam must have pattered out or something. After all, she won their round and that was that… for now. Their final set finished with Jack getting his game back and scoring first place. Cam, having come in second this time, accused him of cheating and he waved it off with a smile made up of teeth as white as the snow that would be falling again within the next few months.

All in all, the evening went by as naturally as any other one the group has had since they struck this deal with Bertha about a year ago. It was just that, this time, Jack added to the fun. But every now and then she caught the boy's bright blue eyes on her. She didn't know why, maybe just coincidence. But his chilly blue irises felt… warm, if that made any sense. She couldn't find a way to describe it…

Felix was the first one to go home, when they group heard the familiar sound of his mother's car making it's iconic honk that sounded kind of like a default ringtone on a cell phone. Jack left soon after that and thanked them for inviting him out before heading out the door.

Once she was sure he was gone, Hiccup turned to the twins and asked "So… was there any other reason you wanted me to invite Jack?"

"I had no part in that scheme." Cam clarified, putting up her hands defensively.

Astrid shrugged "Just a theory I have."

Not a moment sooner, the girls heard the faint sound of rock music blasting outside, followed by a honk.

"That's my ride." Hiccup sighed as she stood "So, would you guys mind if he becomes a regular with us?"

Astrid shrugged. "I don't see why not; I liked him."

"I want him back next week." Cam ordered "I demand a re-match, he so cheated that last set."

Hiccup giggled "I'll ask him if he can come next week." She walked up to the counter and returned the shows to Mulch before waving back at the girls and heading out the door.


	6. Slow Morning

**Hello, readers~! So, uh... updates slowed down because school and blah, blah, I'm sure you've heard that from some of your other fic authors too (especially if you read any more of my fics...) so i won't bore you all with that mess.**

**Not much happens in this chapter, until you get the end but I wanted to play with Hiccup and Scott's relationship again and introduce another new face. This one's one of Scott's friends and... yeah... I'll leave an explanation at the bottom for those who haven't read the HTTYD books because he comes from there.**

**I honestly didn't think people would like this fic at all, so I'm glad that it's not a total failure or anything... thanks for reading and whatever else you guys like to do with this fic. :) **

* * *

Sunday was starting to prove itself as a very tiring day for Hiccup. Maybe it was because she stayed up late last night reading _How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse_, the fourth _How to Train your Dragon _ it was the fact that Toothless woke her up at seven in the morning to bark at the neighbor's cat. Maybe it was because her parents had used their one mutual day off to do something together for once, so she had more chores to do.

… Or maybe it was the sound of Scott whining at her to make another helping of eggs for him when he walked into the kitchen and saw her silencing her own hunger. Seriously, the boy couldn't feed himself? She gave in to his demand in hopes that he would quiet down afterwards… but Hiccup was stupid to think that would ever be the truth. It was ten AM when he decided to go into the garage to play with his rust bucket of a car and blast the stereo. Sometimes she wondered why the thing hadn't broken yet; it had to be maxed out on sound capacity.

But that was normal for the sounds of the Haddock house, especially when Val wasn't around to mediate the volume. Hiccup managed to drown it out with her headphones while she turned on the Wii and played a few rounds of Mario Kart. It was her and Scott's silly tradition to compete with each other on the game frequently and lately he'd been kicking her butt at it. He had to either be cheating or practicing, so Hiccup set her virtual wheels to the race track and started to train against the game, easily snagging the star cup for the fifth time.

Then, after two hours unknowingly ticked by, Hiccup heard the music turn down (thank the gods for that) and the door to the garage open and shut. That was all normal. But what wasn't expected was two sets of footsteps coming inside.

"Henrika!" Scott called "What's for lunch?"

"Can't you make it yourself?" She called back.

"Come on," A voice that she immediately recognized chimed "not even for me?"

Hiccup rolled her eyes with a knowing smile as she stood and found her brother and another all-too familiar face beside him. She would recognize the guy anywhere, being bigger than Scott and his unmistakable curly black hair and nose ring adorning his right nostril. It was Scott's best friend, Derek.

Now Hiccup was amazed that she was surprised that he was here to begin with. The guy lived only a few houses down and the two have been friends for as long as she could remember; Val claims that it was pretty much since they could walk. It wasn't a daily occurrence to see him, but Hiccup couldn't say it was a rare event either.

"Oh, great," She sarcastically complained "Dog's Breath is here."

He chuckled "Nice to see you too, Hiccup."

"Seriously, we should stop that." Scott commented.

"I told you; it's gonna stick, Snot Face~." Hiccup giggled.

Scott moaned under his breath "Whatever." He shifted on his feet "So what about lunch?"

"What _about _lunch?" Hiccup restated.

"What's on the menu, sis?" Her brother clapped his hands together.

"Oh, no." She retorted "No, I already made you breakfast this morning; I'm not feeding you and Derek lunch. If anything, you owe _me_ a meal."

Scott just gaped at her for a moment before he cleared his throat "Alright." He affirmed "How about we go for a burger or something? My treat." He looked away at the last part with a look that just screamed 'I can't believe I'm doing this.'

Hiccup gave a smile that she tried not to make appear evil in any way. Scott was kind of at her mercy because he has this outright refusal to learn how to cook anything that can't be prepared by putting it in the microwave for under three minutes. And, when Val wasn't around, that meant Hiccup had to feed him… and sometimes her father, if he came home from work earlier than usual.

"Alright." She replied.

"Just don't leave me bankrupt this time." Scott warned.

"Yeah, yeah." Hiccup waved him off, passing the boys by to enter the garage and find her brother's truck sitting on a makeshift lift made out wooden crates and some pieces of his workout equipment… without the wheels on it and the hood open. "Scott?"

"Yeah?" He called back.

"Are you going to put the wheels on your truck or are we walking?"

There was a long silence before she heard the vehicle's owner shout "Shit!"

So, she spent the next twenty minutes watching Derek and Scott fumble around the truck and put the wheels back on it and pull out their makeshift lift piece by piece. One final crashing noise and the vehicle was once again on the concrete floor. Derek filed into the passenger seat and Scott assumed his place at the steering wheel.

"Come on!" He complained "I'm starving!"

Hiccup got up from the box she was sitting on and wandered to the passenger side "If you weren't a pair of idiots, you'd be stuffing your face right now." Derek opened his door and Hiccup climbed in.

Now, one would like to think that Hiccup clambered into the backseat of the truck. And one would be right… if Scott's truck _had_ a backseat. But no, it only has two front seats because the idiot took out the backseats so that he could recline the front seats all the way back or something like that. So Hiccup assumed her usual position for rides like this, on Derek's lap. It didn't exactly matter, anyway. Hiccup had been around Derek enough to consider him another older brother.

The two managed to buckle themselves in; after all, they'd become pros at it, and the trio started the ride to the boys' favorite fast food joint. And, after enduring ten minutes of her brother's music blasting as usual and a conversation between the boys about going to spy on the cheerleading tryouts next week, they made it. Hiccup wasted no time climbing out of the car, the boys following at their laid back pace.

"What's the rush, Henrika?" Derek implored.

"I thought you two were hungry." Hiccup recalled, starting for the door inside "That and I don't need to hear about your weird, perverted plans."

"What?" Scott waved an arm nonchalantly "We need to start looking for dates for prom."

Hiccup rolled her eyes "Isn't that still a semester away?"

"Doesn't hurt to browse early." Her brother defended.

"Whatever." Hiccup stopped and looked back at him "Wait… does this mean you're over Astrid now?" She smirked "This is great; I'll have to tell her next time I see her."

Scott shook his head "No, this is a backup plan in case she says no. But, hey, who can say no to all of this?" he gestured to himself and gave what he claimed as his "winner smile."

"She already has; what's one more time?" Hiccup remarked, trying to hold back a laugh.

Scott stripped off his smile and rolled his eyes, shoulders slouching "Just tell me what you want and find a table for us."

"Get me my usual." Hiccup answered, turning towards the tables on her right and finding the one she always gravitated towards available. It was in the corner, by the big window in the front of the establishment, and the seat against the wall was part of a bench spread across the wall and to the last table in the row. She seated herself on the bench and tapped her fingers against the checkerboard tile tabletop, taking in the normal scent of fried food and seeing where her brother and his friend were in the line.

Her gaze turned out the window and she watched cars roll through her line of sight until she felt a buzz come from her pocket. She took out her cell phone and unlocked it to read a text message. It was from Jack.

_Hey, Hiccup. :P_

She smiled at the message and giggled a little at the emoticon. Of course, Jack would be the guy to use them…

_Hey. _She replied.

_What's up?_

_Out to lunch with my brother and his friend. _She typed _You?_

_Eh, my sisters are busy and I have nothing to do. :/ So I thought you'd entertain me. _

Hiccup sighed _You have a car, don't you?_

_Yeah, but nowhere to go. _

Hiccup thought for a minute before answering _How about you read a book?_

_No way!_

_Why? You work in a library._

_Exactly; I'm around books enough as it is._

Hiccup sniggered at the message and typed back _Then be bored._

_You're so mean, Hiccup._

_I know. _Her smile grew.

"Who're you texting?" Hiccup glanced up to see Scott and Derek setting their tray of food down on the table and sitting down, Scott bring the one to ask her the question.

"My friend, Jack." She innocently answered. She texted again _Brother's here with the food; hold on._ And put her phone back in her pocket.

"Jack?" Derek blinked "Never heard that name from you before."

"Neither have I." Scott confirmed "Who's Jack?"

Hiccup took her burger, fries and drink from the tray, trying quite hard to ignore the four burgers, two large fries and giant soda that were in front of her brother. Guess he wasn't kidding about being starving; it was a burger and fry more than his usual spread. "I met him about a month ago. He works at the library."

"The one I've been picking you up from after lacrosse every day?" The dark brunet pried further.

"Yeah, why?" His sister unwrapped her burger and took a bite "I thought you, mom and dad wanted me to make more friends." She felt a buzz in her pocket again and deemed it Jack responding that he'd wait, so she didn't answer.

"Yeah, but you hang around guys all the time." Derek shrugged, still chewing "Don't you want to spend time with other girls?"

"I have Astrid and Cam; that's good enough." Hiccup replied.

"Whatever, Henrika." Scott tossed up an arm in defeat, now making his way through his second burger and finishing up his first box of fries. Did he _have_ to talk with his mouth full? He then reached into his pocket and took out his cell phone to read a message. His eyes widened as his eyes scanned the screen and he turned to Derek "Dude, we gotta go."

Derek slouched in his seat "Go where? We just got here."

"I have a meeting with my coach; I completely forgot." Scott hastily replied "I gotta go and you said you'd come with me."

"What are you talking about?" Hiccup interjected.

"Nothing." Scott seemed like he couldn't get that out fast enough "I need to take you home; grab your food and let's go." He followed his own order, snagging his remaining food and running out to the truck.

Hiccup and Derek were left to clean up the table and collect the rest of their meals. "What was that about?" She questioned "Where's the fire?"

"He's just doing some extra training so he can make football tryouts in the spring." Derek explained.

"Again? He didn't make it that past three years." Hiccup recalled as the two discarded the trash and made their way to the truck.

"I know." Derek leaned closer to her "Just don't remind him of that…"

The pair slid into the passenger seat and Scott broke more traffic rules in order to get home within five minutes, kick Hiccup out of the car and speed back away, almost taking out the mailbox as he got out of the driveway.

Well, so much for a decent outing… again. She took her key out of her pocket and let herself inside with a heavy sigh. Now what?

Then, she remembered she was texting Jack before that fiasco happened and slipped her phone back into her hand. She was right, that last text was just Jack saying _Okay. :) _

Hiccup wandered from the landing into the living room and plopped down on the couch before starting up the conversation again. _Okay, I can talk now. Sorry about that._

_It's cool. So what's going on?_

_My brother just dumped me at the house because he was late for something or… something? _Hiccup shrugged as she sent it, as if Jack would even see that…

_Really? _Jack typed back.

_Yeah. That's kinda normal around here._

A few minutes ticked by before Jack sent another message _Hey, you're as bored as I am, right?_

Hiccup raised an eyebrow _Yeah… why…?_

_If you text me your address, I can come pick you up and we can do something?_

Hiccup stared at the message, unsure of how to respond.

* * *

**... I have no words for that ending; I just like to leave you guys hanging sometimes. Sorry!**

**Anyway, my explanation... Derek is Dogsbreath from the HTTYD book series; he's basically Snotlout's best friend/side kick in the books and he takes part in picking on Hiccup and stuff like that. I altered their relationship quite a bit so that they're more than bullies but they'll still pick on Hiccup from time to time. They're all pretty much family comfortable with each other so... I figured Derek would be nice to her but also love to mess with her when he and Scott are bored.**


	7. Competition and Cones

**Hello, readers! Sorry for the delay in my updates; school has been running my whole life lately, outside of study halls, so... yeah... they'll probably be this way unless I have breaks and/or minimal homework. I'm sorry! I really am! **

**But I'm trying to compensate for these later updates with longer chapters now, though, so yay~! I hope this chapter's satisfactory to everyone; I worked all week on it. **

* * *

_If you text me your address, I can come pick you up and we can do something?_

Hiccup stared at the message, unsure of how to respond. Her fingers hovered over the small keypad with uncertainty. She was nervous about responding but she had no idea why. Jack was her friend, why should it be a problem if they hung out? They were bored and wanted to do something, that's all.

If this was Astrid, Cam or Felix, she'd have immediately accepted the offer. But, for Jack… she hesitated. Was it because she still barely knew him? That couldn't be it, or she wouldn't have invited him out with her and her friends last night. Why was this even debatable?

She calmed her thoughts before responding_ Alright._ With her address attached to the message.

There, it was done. But her nerves still stayed a little longer. It was strange, really… she'd never been that indecisive about spending time with a friend before.

* * *

A smile couldn't help but creep onto Jack's face when he read Hiccup's answer. They'd be hanging out together, and outside the library for once! And for more than ten minutes! He finally had something to do today. You know… besides his homework… he'd do that later…

Jack rolled off the couch and grabbed his hoodie, throwing it over his plain blue t-shirt and taking his car keys out of his pocket. He tossed the keys and his snowflake keychain in his palm as he sauntered to the front door.

He put his hand on the doorknob and he heard Anna call out "Where are you going?"

He turned to see his older sister coming down the stairs, her colorfully dyed hair pulled back in a ponytail and her violet glasses on. "I'm uh… I'm going out."

"Yeah, I know that." Anna slumped her shoulders "But where?"

"Well…" Jack slid a foot against the hardwood floor "I was texting Henrika and… I'm going to pick her up and we're going somewhere…"

His sister climbed the rest of the way down the stairs and stood in front of him in silence, processing what he'd just said. Then a pure white smile flashed from her with a loud coo "Awwww."

Jack blinked "What?"

"You already asked her out?" Anna excitedly hopped in front of her brother "That's great!"

"Uh…" Jack stammered "No… no, I didn't. I'm just, um… she was bored and I was bored, so um… we're hanging out."

"Just hanging out?" She stared up at him in bewilderment.

"Yeah." Jack clarified "It's just we'll be by ourselves this time…" He looked away from her.

"Any idea where you're taking her yet?" She asked. Her brother shrugged in response "Okay, then… how about some advice?" His blue eyes met her deep brown color. It was a bit strange to gaze upon her natural eye color, as her contacts turned her irises a vibrant purple "Think of this as a way to get closer to her, then. Take her someplace where you can have fun together. Just like going out with her and her friends last night." He nodded "And be yourself, okay?" She added "Girls don't like it when you try to force things."

"Okay." He proceeded out the door as she rounded the corner, assumingly to grab a snack or something. Once the door was shut behind him, Jack strode to his car, climbed inside and started the engine "Okay," he sighed. He slipped his phone back out of his pocket and scanned her address again, putting it in the GPS program on his phone and pulling out of the driveway, following the directions carefully.

* * *

Hiccup locked up the house and waited on the front steps for Jack to pull up. She took her cell phone out of her pocket to check the time and patted her other pocket, to ensure that her keys and wallet were safely inside.

She watched as cars rolled past her, half expecting all of them to be Jack because she had no clue what kind of car he drove. She sighed and leaned back on the stoop after about ten cars passed her by.

Her mind wandered back to Scott ditching her about a half an hour ago. It wasn't that it was strange behavior, really. Scott had this habit of not picking her up from places or leaving because he got bored. And he always hopped in his truck and went to who-knows-where when he didn't want to stay at home with his little sister. But this time was a bit different. He usually blew off his business to her like it was no big deal, like he does with just about everything else. But when he tried to explain it to her this time… he was very quick, almost like he was more embarrassed than in a rush.

She let her mind wander on it for a bit before deciding that she would figure out whatever it was in good time. After all, she was the one that did the laundry, most of the time. He's bound to leave some kind of clue in his pockets at some point. That was actually a way that she kept money in her wallet. Her rule was whoever does the laundry keeps what they find in the pockets, excluding cell phones and the like. She thought it would be incentive for her brother to actually do a chore or two, but she was clearly wrong about that idea…

Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a horn. Hiccup jumped at the noise and saw Jack had pulled up into the driveway. She should have figured his car would be blue; it was the boy's favorite color, after all. She stood and walked to the passenger side, sliding in.

"Hey." She greeted, buckling herself in.

"Hey." Jack smiled "Did I really take that long?"

She giggled "No, I was just thinking and I zoned out."

"Ah." The white-haired boy affirmed.

"So…" She trailed off "Where do you wanna go?"

Jack leaned back in his seat "How do you feel about the arcade?"

She raised an eyebrow "Really?"

"Yeah, why not?" He shrugged.

Hiccup shrugged back "Just didn't expect that suggestion."

"So you're cool with it, then?" Jack confirmed.

"Yeah." She beamed "Sounds like fun."

"Okay, then." He put the car in gear "The arcade it is."

* * *

About a twenty minute drive and the two were pulled up in front of the arcade in a plaza in the center of town. It was a small place, but it would surely do the trick. Jack had thought about this all the way to Hiccup's house. She had a brother, so she had to have played video games at some point, right? He could have fun with her and maybe, just maybe, he could find a game she wasn't good at and help her out. Was it wrong that he thought about how nice it would be to help her aim the gun in an FPS game? Because that was one of his first thoughts, once he thought of taking her here.

"I haven't been here in years." The brunette claimed "Scott and I stopped going when he hit high school. He got into lacrosse and stuff and he didn't have time for it anymore."

"You didn't want to come by yourself?" Jack questioned.

"Not really." Hiccup shrugged "Sometimes we play our Wii together, when he has time. And, since we have that, what's the point of me coming here alone?"

Alright, point for Jack. She was a bit of a gamer. This should be fun, alright.

The two stepped inside the arcade and promptly made their way to the change machine to exchange some of their smaller bills for quarters. Jack traded in five ones for quarters and Hiccup settled for doing the same with the three singles she had on her, claiming that, between the two of them, they definitely had enough to occupy themselves for a little while.

Hiccup wandered through the aisles of game consoles, occasionally peering over the shoulder of people playing one of the machines. Jack did the same but found his gaze catching on Hiccup exploring more than the games. There was something about the curiosity on her face that drew him to follow her as she glided from system to system and the way the screens light up the grassy plains in her eyes.

Then, the meadows flared when she focused on an unoccupied console. Jack stepped next to her and registered it as a fighting game that could be played alone or with another person. She looked up at him and smiled "Wanna play me?"

Jack smirked "I don't know, Hiccup…" He leaned back on his heels "I'm pretty good at this game."

"You scared I'm gonna beat you?" Hiccup crossed her arms and smirked back.

"Oh, that's it." Jack playfully countered "You're on."

Jack inserted the amount of quarters they needed and selected their characters. And Jack learned pretty quickly that either Hiccup was better at this game than he was or she picked the one character that was more over-powered than he thought. Within thirty seconds of the first round, Hiccup's gigantic mountain of a man, who kinda resembled a Viking, had slaughtered Jack's favorite avatar of the game, an ice wizard who was, uh… slightly underdressed, concerning her powers.

"Ha!" Hiccup gloated "I thought you said you were good at this game?"

"That was just the warm up round, Hiccup." Jack excused "Round two, you'll be thrown for a loop."

"Sure you don't wanna back out while you can?" The brunette jeered.

"No way." Jack retorted "You won't get rid of me that easy."

Hiccup smirked and they both turned back to the screen as the second round started. This time, Jack put up much more of a fight but Hiccup still came out on top with one minute left on the timer.

"Wow, didn't think you'd be much harder to beat there." She complimented.

"What can I say?" Jack waved a hand nonchalantly "It's a gift."

"Oh, really?" Hiccup retorted with venom in her tone "Does this 'gift' only apply to this game or are there others you want me to kick your butt at?"

"Well," The white-haired boy mused, glancing around the arcade.

From there, the two spent most of their quarters trying out different machines as they opened up. Hiccup proved to be quite the gamer, beating Jack at quite a few games and coming in a very close second in others. It seemed that no matter what game it was, she was good at it. But that was kind of expected, after she told him about how she and her brother used to come here all the time.

"Okay," the older playfully called, after yet another beat down by the younger"you've forced my hand, Hiccup. I'm bringing out the big guns." He grabbed Hiccup's wrist and led her to the back of the arcade, where there was a machine for a dancing game set up. It was playing an annoying pop tune when the two walked up to it, but Jack would fix that momentarily… if he could convince Hiccup to play him.

"Really?" She tried not to laugh "DDR?"

"What?" Jack deflected "This game's great."

"You couldn't be good at another game, could you?" Hiccup complained.

Now it was Jack's turn to taunt "You're not scared I'm gonna beat you… are you?"

"Fine." Hiccup threw her hands up in defense "But don't say I didn't warn you."

Jack watched with a bit of caution as she stepped onto one of the platforms and inserted their quarters. What did she mean by that, exactly? That couldn't possibly mean she was good at this one too, right? She seemed like she really didn't like the game all that much… maybe she sucked and didn't want to embarrass herself in front of him? But one thing that Jack was learning pretty quickly was that Hiccup was really competitive. He'd have to play his best if he wanted to get an upper hand on her.

"So, are you gonna pick the song or do you want me to?" Hiccup asked, tapping her foot on the platform to scroll through the options.

Jack hopped onto the other platform and chuckled "Surprise me."

"Okay." She let out a bit of an evil laugh as she picked the song.

Jack groaned when he heard the sample tune play before Hiccup confirmed it "Butterfly, really?"

"Problem?" Hiccup drawled.

"Only if my problem is kicking your butt." Jack retorted.

A few seconds later and the arrows started to cross the screen, the two teens' feet both matching up with their times, each of them only slipping up once in a great while. Jack's eyes were locked on the glow of the screen and the colors flashing with each arrow that was matched perfectly. It was funny how this was the only form of dancing that he was any good at whatsoever. Off of the DDR machine, Jack had two left feet.

His focus was honed down on the task at hand but, even so, it seemed his two left feet caught up with him. One little slip up and he missed more than three arrows within the few seconds it took him to recover from nearly tripping over his own shoes. Now do you see why Jack hated shoes so much? If he was barefoot, he wouldn't have had that problem.

Apparently, he was so in the zone that he hadn't noticed until a minute after he tripped that a crowd had started to form around their competition. He only realized when one of them apparently did something that the group liked. Jack was thinking that it was him until he heard one of the people in the masses behind them shout "You go, girl!"

Well, uh… maybe they were putting up a good fight against each other and Jack just didn't have time to notice? He hoped he regained whatever ground he lost when he nearly fell flat on his face. But he didn't have any time to glance at his opponent's score. He wanted to at least _try_ to make some kind of impression on her while they were out together.

The song ended with applause from the crowd behind them, which Jack noticed was about ten people when he turned around and wiped his brow.

There were comments of "Wow, that was so close!" and "Close match!" along with the cheers from the onlookers.

Then something else sounded "Whoa, Hiccup," One of the guys in the crowd called "I think you beat your old record!"

"Old record?" Jack repeated "What old record?"

His question was answered when the high scores for the game came up and he saw the initials "HHH" at the top of the list. A few seconds later, it was moved down one space on the chart and Hiccup's score for their game appeared. She put in the same three letters as the one below her. Now in third place was Jack's own high score, with the initials "JOF," from another time he'd played. After she did so, her apparent fans all dissolved from the group they became and scattered back to other machines in the arcade.

"Wait, that's you?" He questioned "Yours is the one that kept me from having the high score?"

"Yep." She confirmed "Henrika Hannah Haddock. This was one of the games that I always beat Scott at when we used to come here, so he always played me at it when I couldn't win at anything else."

"He did that for you?"

"Yeah." Hiccup recalled "Sometimes his friend Derek would tag along too. They'd play each other and then I got whoever won their round."

"Do you miss that?"

Hiccup paused for a moment before responding "Yeah. I do." She stepped down from the dance platform and started towards the exit.

Jack followed her "You do a lot of stuff with them when you were younger?"

"Oh, yeah." She continued "Derek lives right down the street and he and Scott have known each other since they could crawl, practically. I grew up with both of them around and, sure, they were jerks to me a lot of the time, but they always had my back when I needed them to." She shrugged "I don't know, I guess I have two brothers… in a way." Jack nodded "They're still a couple of idiots, though." She added with a giggle.

"They kinda sound it to me." Jack added "So… I think we used the last of our quarters. You wanna go somewhere else or do you want me to take you home?"

Hiccup stopped walking and took her phone out of her pocket and checked the time before slipping it back where it came from and proceeding out the glass door "I still have a bit of time, if you want to grab an ice cream or something?"

"Okay." He smiled "Anywhere you'd prefer?"

She shrugged, stopping at the passenger side of Jack's car "I'm not picky."

"Good." Jack answered "Because I know the best place in town. And… I get a discount."

"Why would you get a discount?" She wondered.

"I know someone who works there." He slipped into the driver's seat and started the engine. Hiccup climbed after him and he drove them off.

* * *

It was only about ten minutes more in the car with Jack before he stopped in front of a small ice cream parlor called The Frozen North. Hiccup had seen the place a few times during car rides, but she'd never stopped inside or anything. After all, she had ice cream at home most of the time, so why bother going to buy something that you already had enough of?

But Jack seemed excited to show her the place, so why not go with him? He was really fun to be around and… she kind of didn't want to go back home just yet. There was something about hanging out with Jack that was just enjoyable and she didn't want to part from that just yet.

"You'll love this place; they have so many flavors." Jack's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Do they have mint chocolate chip?" She asked "It's my favorite."

"Yep." Jack stated with a pop of his lips. He opened the big wooden door and held the door open for her, letting it close behind them "Hey, North! You here?" He called.

"Eeeeyy, look who it is." A booming, accented voice sounded from a back room "If it isn't Jack!" A tall teen with dark hair, a matching beard and eyes almost as blue as Jack's stepped through the doorway. He held out his arms in a welcoming fashion, showing off the tattoos decorating each one. He put them down when he noticed Hiccup "And friend?" He leaned on the counter and gave Jack a smirk that was less-than-subtle.

Jack sighed "North, this is my friend, Hiccup. Hiccup, this is North; he's in a few of my classes at school."

"Too bad we don't share lunch, no?" North commented "Only me and Eli in lunch wave."

"Yeah, well, what can you do?" Jack replied "School."

"Yes…" North trailed off "So, you come to introduce new friend to me or for ice cream?"

"A little of both." Jack chuckled.

"Excellent!" North declared "What can I get you?"

"Get me my usual and Hiccup a cone of your mint chocolate chip." Jack ordered.

"Coming up." The server clapped his giant hands together and started assembling the frozen treats "So, 'iccup" He carried on "How you meet Jack?"

She started brushing her leg over the hardwood floor "I've been going to the library he works and lately and-"

"Ah, see what I tell you, Jack?" North interrupted "Having Sandy get you job at library good thing, yes?"

"I-I guess…" Jack stammered. Hiccup glanced at him and saw a faint pink begin to flush onto his cheeks. If it was really this awkward for him to introduce a female friend to another friend, why would he even take her to the place he knew the guy would be at?

The Russian teen laughed "I thought so." The bell above the door chimed, signaling that someone else had walked in "Ey, Phil, you come to take over my shift?"

The other two teens turned to see an older man with a thick beard standing in front of the door, glowering at Jack, who smirked in response. After that, he simply grumbled with a nod and disappeared into the back room.

"Okay, then." North reassured as if the guy actually said something "I will be out when I finish this order." He then got back to making the ice creams and held them out a moment later "For Jack, soft serve vanilla cone blue sprinkles." He gave it to Jack "And, for 'iccup" he smiled "cone of mint chocolate chip." And he passed it to her.

Hiccup admired the scoops piled onto the cone for a second before taking some of it into her mouth. Her eyes widened upon the creamy ice cream and bits of chocolate mixing and melting on her tongue. A smile crept onto her face as she swallowed and began to run her tongue over the top scoop some more.

"Is good, yes?" North confirmed. Hiccup nodded.

"See what I meant when I said 'best ice cream in town?'" Jack boasted.

She swallowed "Yeah."

North came to the other side of the counter "So, Jack, would you rather I leave you alone or stay and chat?"

"Uh…" Jack awkwardly glanced between his taller friend and Hiccup, uncertainty plain on his face. Okay, this was getting kinda weird now… "Do you mind?" He finally asked her.

"Not really." Hiccup shrugged.

North smiled, then slipped a cell phone out of his pocket and his expression flattened "It seems I have to go. Forgot to work on essay." He started to tap the keys on his phone as he walked away "Enjoy, ice cream on me."

Once North left, Jack sat at the table they were standing right next to and Hiccup sat across from him. "Sorry if…" He gestured to the counter "any of that weirded you out." He rubbed the back on his neck "I have weird friends."

"You've met my friends; we're even." Hiccup commented.

"That's true." Jack affirmed.

General conversation ensued while the pair devoured their frozen treats, the only interruption being the occasional customer walking in (as it was starting to get too cold out for any normal person to eat ice cream) and Phil eying Jack with a grumble here and there. Hiccup didn't know exactly what the guy had against Jack, but she got the vibe that the silver-haired boy liked to pull pranks and mess with people. That could very well have been the reason.

They stayed in their seats until about an hour and a half after their ice creams were gone and simply conversed some more about school, their friends and the like. Jack ranted for awhile about some guy named Pitch at his school who got suspended for pulling what Jack called the "prank of the year," which involved breaking into the school early and closing every locker in the place with zip ties. Jack dubbed it as an early senior prank, as the guy was supposed to graduate in the coming year and Hiccup was glad this kid didn't go to her school.

Hiccup kept the complaining train going by talking about her history teacher, who everyone called Mildew for a reason that was still unknown to her, and how much he hated almost everyone in the class. Well, everyone except Felix and herself, which usually resulted in Mildew placing the two of them to work together on projects whenever he could. The two of them decided that it was just a way for him to guarantee that he would get at least one really good project out of the "herd of sheep" that he called the rest of the class.

Jack laughed at the last statement as she glanced down at her watch and noticed the time. It was almost five o'clock and that meant it was probably a decent time to go home. And that was because, if she didn't make dinner, Scott would probably burn the house down in the process of trying to do it himself. So, Jack opted to take her home and they piled back into his car.


	8. Coming Home

***Claps hands together* Alright. So... two more new characters this chapter... I hope it's easy enough to tell who they are. I know I'm tossing so many people in this fic really quickly, but I needed some filler and I really hate introductions so I'm trying to get as many over with now as I possibly can. Besides, most of them are just secondary characters, anyway... **

**I swear I had no clue what I was doing for half of this chapter and you guys have been waiting long enough for an update, so I figured I'd give you this. I don't even know, I'm in this part of the story where it's hard for me to make progress without fearing I'm going too fast or too slow... Ugh, writing!**

**Feedback, please... and thank you...?**

* * *

The ride back home with Jack was simply a continuation of the banter they had been engaged in before Hiccup had decided she should get back to the house. She mostly ranted to him about Scott, but it fell on understanding ears when the white-haired boy commented about his sisters in reply. Hiccup couldn't help but laugh when Jack told her about how his older sister, studying to be a dentist, has been poking her fingers into his mouth since his baby teeth started falling out and how his younger sister is currently going through that same phase with her, only the oldest Overland sibling was much more professional this time around.

Almost no time passed between the two of them before they found themselves pulling into the Haddock's driveway. Hiccup noted that, judging by the noise she could just vaguely make out, that Scott was home and taking full advantage of being left alone. She sighed and wondered exactly what he'd been up to while she was out but also had a sense of dread stirring within her. He was never one to throw wild parties or anything, but it would be nice to come home and not find him doing something that they'd later agree not to let their parents know about.

Hiccup unbuckled her seat belt "So, uh… thanks for inviting me out…"

"Yeah." Jack glanced from her to the steering wheel "No problem. I had a lot of fun today."

The brunette smiled "I did too; we should definitely go do that again sometime."

"Sure." The older grinned, showing off his near-perfect smile "I'd like that."

Hiccup tucked a lock of hair behind her ear "So, uh…" She quickly leaned in and hugged him. Slowly, she felt Jack's arms wrap around her back "See you later, I guess." She pulled away and climbed out of the car.

"See ya'…" She heard Jack call back, almost like he was in shock. Well, she did hug him a little quickly; he might not have seen it coming. She just shrugged it off and stepped inside, praying for the best to be on the other side of the door.

What she was greeted with was… better than expected, anyway. The house looked like it was in one piece, excluding the three extra sets of discarded shoes in the landing and the distant shouts emitting from the living room.

Toothless must have heard the door shutting amongst the noise, as he darted down the hall and jumped on her, resting his massive paws on her shoulders and licking her face with his equally large tongue.

His owner giggled "Hey, Toothless, I'm glad to see you too, bud." Hiccup took the large dog's paws off of her and let him fall back to standing on all four legs "What happened while I was out, huh?"

The dog ticked his head to the side, as if he was trying to understand what his human was asking of him. He let out a small woof and wagged his tail, nearly knocking over a lamp on an end table with the thing. The brunette moved a few steps over to keep his tail from breaking anything and laughed "Let's go see what Scott's been up to, bud."

Hiccup wandered to the doorway, Toothless on her heels, and peeked into the living room to see Scott, Derek and two of her brother's other friends crowded around the TV, her brother and his best friend getting way too into the football game that was on. Her eyes locked on two half-eaten boxes of pizza sitting on the coffee table, along with barely full bottles of soda and a pile of used paper plates and napkins.

After some screaming about how a false call was made, Scott finally turned his head enough to see her "Oh, hey Henrika…" He awkwardly greeted "Whe~re'd you go?"

"I went to the arcade with a friend." She replied "What's going on here?"

"Derek and I invited Ruth and Terence over to watch the game." Scott gestured to the set of twins on the sofa, who appeared at the house almost as often as Derek did. Both were tall and skinny and had the same shade of sandy blond hair.

Terence had his shaggy hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, as usual, and was lazily sipping at his soda with his feet up on the coffee table. "Hey, Henrika…" He muttered.

Ruth was watching the game more intently than her brother, her long twin braids swinging slightly and she leaned closer to the screen. "There's a seat open, if you wanna watch with us." She offered without looking away from the screen, pointing in the general direction of the empty armchair on the other side of the room.

Hiccup chuckled but declined "I'm fine; I have some things I have to do."

Scott took a bite out of a slice of pizza in his hand "Oh, and," He continued with his mouth full "you don't have to worry about dinner." He swallowed "Maybe you could thank me for taking one chore off of your list, sis?"

She playfully scoffed in reply "Yeah, right. Like I'd give you the satisfaction." She added a smile the purposely showed her metal mouth.

Scott stared at her in confusion for a few seconds before his eyes widened at her "Right. Braces." He looked from the pizza slice to her "I forgot about that."

"I figured." Hiccup rolled her eyes "I'll just heat up some leftovers from the fridge, I guess."

The older Haddock opened his mouth to say something else but was cut off "Oh, come on!" Derek shouted, standing up and throwing up his arms in exasperation "That was a foul!"

"I swear," Ruth added "someone paid off the refs."

"This is just what we get for rooting for the Vikings." Terence drawled "They've only won one game so far this season."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Scott defended, throwing himself back into the conversation "It's been pretty close a few times."

"I'm just saying that the one time you put money on them winning is when they're gonna do nothing but lose." Terence carried on "If you want your team to win, don't jinx it by betting on them."

Hiccup's brows knitted together quizzically "You bet on the games?" She asked, genuinely surprised "Since when?"

"Since dad let me in on the pool going on where he works." Scott admitted.

Hiccup lightly shook her head "You're an idiot." She patted her thigh and strode down the hall, Toothless following her as she went "Alright, bud, I'll feed you first." The dog perked up at the words and barked happily as his human pulled a bag of dog food that was half her size out of the hall closet and snagged the dog's food bowl from its place on the kitchen floor. She filled the bowl to the dog's usual amount and placed it back where she got it, Toothless instantly jumping on the opportunity to feast on his dinner. While he was busy with that, Hiccup re-filled his water bowl and put it down next to his food. "There ya' go, bud."

Leaving Toothless to his meal, Hiccup opened the fridge and sifted through the leftovers inside of it. Finding some of Thursday's macaroni, she popped it in the microwave and sat herself at the table after it was heated up; a great accomplishment, considering the plate came out twice as hot as the food did. A few minutes of silent eating passed before she heard the clacking of Toothless' nails on the hardwood and feeling him plop down next to her chair. The brunette glanced at the dog and found him staring at the area of the floor around her. He was obviously hoping for her to drop a few scraps, even though he'd literally just eaten.

"Go lie down, bud." She commanded. The dog stood and decided that planting himself on the floor after taking two steps away from his owner was good enough. Hiccup giggled at the canine "Yes, guard me from the people screaming at the football game." She softly laughed.

With Toothless exchanging his gaze between Hiccup and the doorway, she finished her dinner, slipped the plate in the sink and made her way upstairs to her bedroom. It took a minute, but she eventually heard the Great Dane following her once again, like the shadow that he was, and assuming his place on Hiccup's bed as she sat at her desk and finally started to work on the last assignment she'd been procrastinating all weekend. Might as well try to stay on Mildew's good side, right?

* * *

Jack stumbled through the front door in a bit of a daze. He'd gotten plenty of hugs before in his lifetime, but none have had an… energy like Hiccup's did. Her touch was like a tiny electric shock down his spine, heating his skin and giving him an embarrassingly delayed reaction to her good bye… He'd kick himself about that later, though. If anything, this confirmed that the boy really did have an attraction to the girl with eyes like a summer meadow.

_Great… _Jack sighed, collapsing on the couch the second he turned the corner _Now what do I do with this…? _

He stayed motionless on the sofa, his face pressed into the cushion, for a few minutes before he felt a gentle hand start to rub a circle on his back "So," It was Anna, no surprise there "how was your date with Henrika?"

"I told you, it wasn't a date…" The younger Overland muttered into the couch.

"The question still applies." Anna claimed.

Jack sighed and rolled onto his back so that she could understand him better "It was great… fun. I took her to the arcade and then we went to The Frozen North and North gave us a discount on ice cream."

"Okay, then why are you mopey?" His sister questioned "Sounds like your day went really well."

"Because…" Jack pondered his wording for a moment "what do I do now?"

"Stay friends for awhile, like you wanted." She told him "Spend more time with her before you decide what you wanna do." Hearing her brother sigh again made the dental student roll her eyes "And make sure she's not dating anyone else before you do anything major?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Anna twisting her nimble fingers through his bleached locks gave a small calming effect to Jack "This is a mess."

"I know." Anna giggled "I know."

* * *

Well, that job was done in about a half an hour. Hiccup had to think of something else to do, now that all of her chores and school work for the day had been completed. With no better options, she decided to join the group of upperclassmen for the remainder of the game. She wouldn't call herself a football fan, exactly, but the men of the house had a passion for it so she and her mother had picked up on the rules and the best teams over the years. But when your house was the one that threw the annual Super Bowl parties and you had to listen to father and son rant about which teams would make it to said event every season, you'd pick up some tidbits too.

It wasn't as fun as the video game competitions that the older teens would let her in on, but it still entertained her nonetheless. Terence's jinxing theory was proven wrong when the Vikings pulled through with a win. A slim one, but still a win. It looked like Scott wasn't going to lose _all_ of his money in the pool, anyway. And the guys and Ruth all gave a shout of joy at the victory while Hiccup just admired the scene with a growing smile.

The wave of excitement didn't have much time to dissipate away, though. Five minutes after the game ended, a booming voice called out from the kitchen "Who won, son?!" It was their father, Stefan. Right, he had to miss the game to spend time with Val today… he didn't mind at all, don't get him wrong on that. But every time he'd come home from an outing with her after a game, he'd be shouting for Scott to tell him who was the winner.

Scott shouted back "The Vikings pulled through at the last minute! We're not broke!"

Stefan's tall, muscular form came through the doorway excitedly "Really? It's about time! I thought the losing streak would have kept going."

"Someone finally called out the refs on a false call." Derek explained "After that, it was smooth sailing."

Stefan chuckled "Maybe we should have listened to Ruth sooner."

Said girl threw her arms up for effect "I've been saying that for weeks but _nooo_, you guys didn't wanna listen."

Hiccup decided to make herself scarce from the sports rant ensuing in front of her and slinked back into the kitchen, deciding to go back up to her room. On her way, she found Val putting her jacket on the coat rack and Toothless watching her intently.

She turned and greeted the dog "Hey, Toothless~." He ran towards her and received praise in response. Val turned her gaze to her daughter, Toothless now distracted "So, you and Scott behave yourselves today?"

"For the most part." Hiccup shrugged "Unless you count the football frenzy…" The two shared a humorous look, each shaking their head. Let's just say that having friends over at random became a regular thing for the Haddock house… "What'd you and Dad wind up doing?"

"Same old, same old." Val smiled "What'd you do today?" She casually asked, gently tapping Toothless to tell him to go away.

Hiccup shrugged in response "Eh, not much. Scott took me out for lunch and then I hung out with Jack-"

"Jack?" Her mother repeated, suddenly becoming more interested in the conversation.

"Yeah." Hiccup confirmed "Why? Is that a problem…?"

"Hmm…" Val twirled a lock of her auburn hair around a finger "No, it's not. But… didn't he go bowling with you and your friends last night?"

"Yeah, why?" Hiccup repeated.

Val smirked "I think you know why, Henrika."

Hiccup mulled over the comment before realizing what her mother meant by it "Wha-, uh, no." She sputtered "No, we're just friends. It's nothing like that."

"You sure?" Her mother teased, gently shoving her arm.

"Mom, I've only known him for a few weeks." Hiccup pointed out "I barely know him."

Val seemed to be thinking about what to say next, leaning her elbows on the counter and tapping her nails on the surface. Then, the tapping stopped "Can you tell me a few things you _do_ know about him?"

"Do I have to?" Her daughter moaned. A nod from Val clarified that she wouldn't be left alone until she spilled some details "Okay…" Hiccup thought about the white-haired male for a moment, trying to think of what to say about him "Well, he's a few inches taller than me… about a year older than me… he dyes his hair white for some reason…" Val encouraged her to go on, leaning in a bit closer with a smile "He likes to play games and he gets _really_ competitive over them, even though I beat him almost every round."

Her mother laughed at the comment "Is he cute?" She poked.

It took Hiccup a moment to process the question, to which she answered with a shrug "I don't know. He's not bad-looking or anything but…" She shifted her weight from one foot to the other "I don't know…"

Val giggled "You don't really care about that, do you?"

"Not really." Hiccup honestly replied "He seems like a nice person, so I'm hanging out with him. It's as simple as that."

"Okay," Val giggled as she stood up straight again "I'll stop torturing you."

"Thank you." Hiccup sighed, seizing the opportunity to retreat back up to her bedroom. Though, with more difficulty this time then last. There'd always been this problem with the door to her room that everyone had been procrastinating getting fixed. Sometimes, when she closed the door, it would stick and take a pretty hard yank or two to re-open. She'd gotten used to it over the past year, but it was an annoyance nonetheless. She was sure she'd get her father to fix it at some point… when he actually had some free time on his hands.

Oh well, it wasn't that big of a deal. She was probably getting some muscle from forcing the door open regularly, anyway. Glancing at the clock, Hiccup decided that it was a decent time to slip into her pajamas and did just that, an over-sized dragon t-shirt and sweatpants sufficing as such. Then, she packed up her backpack for school the next day and, when she got to the book that she'd probably finish during school tomorrow, decided that she'd stop by the library and visit Jack again. Maybe they could talk for a bit, if he wasn't too busy.

Laying in bed that night, her mother's questions and demand for details raced through her mind. It was innocent enough that the two of them liked spending time together, right? There wasn't anything that suspicious in two people hanging out together. But… she did know one thing for sure. That she _really_ did like spending the weekend around the older teen.

She was just confused about why others seemed to think that there was something more to it than that. There was nothing wrong with a boy and a girl being friends, especially when she already had quite a few male friends, some thanks to Scott always having people over and letting her get involved in what they were doing. But… why did people think that Jack was any different? They spent most of a weekend together, sure. But they were just friends.

…Right…?


End file.
